Set up ten years ago as a regulatory body with the principle aim of creating a cleaner and safer environment, the Environment Agency has been busy.

It has been involved in major events such as serious flooding and the foot-and-mouth outbreak, while concentrating efforts on cleaning up rivers, beaches and thousands of acres of contaminated land.

At the same time it has successfully brought more than 1,000 prosecutions in North-East courts against those who break the law, such as fly-tippers and rogue companies which pollute water courses, resulting in millions of pounds in fines.

The need for such work is said to be particularly acute with the region's historic past of heavy industry leaving behind a legacy of pollution and contamination in some areas.

Andrew Wood, the agency's regional director in the North-East, said: "Many of our rivers were the definition of the word pollution, without so much as a single fish living in them.

"Vast areas of land, perhaps where a steel or chemical works had once stood, were contaminated and posed huge health hazards.

"Some of our coastlines were little more than stretches of black thanks to the coal mined beneath them."

The agency boasts that river waters are cleaner than at any time in living memory and says that major rivers the Tyne and Wear are now regarded as the best salmon and sea trout rivers in the country.

After taking over the testing of bathing waters at 34 beaches along the North-East coast, only one failed to meet European Union standards last year, while 30 reached the highest recognised level.

Since 2000, when the region saw widespread, serious flooding, about £257m has been spent on flood defences. This includes a £10m scheme to help protect 650 homes and businesses in South Church and West Auckland, County Durham, two areas which suffered from flooding from the River Gaunless and the Oakley Cross Beck.

A new flood warning system, which means that people whose homes are in danger of flooding, can receive messages sent straight to their landline phone, mobile or fax machine, has also been set up.

The system aimed at giving residents more time to react, and potentially meaning less of a risk to life, covers a number of towns and cities including Darlington, Durham, Hexham, Morpeth, Newcastle, Redcar, and Sunderland, along with large sections of the Tees Estuary.

Another notable achievement has been the transformation of the County Durham coastline as part of a £10.5m programme called Turning The Tide, for which the agency was a lead partner.

The coastline had been blighted for decades by coal production with 2.4 million tonnes of waste being dumped on the county's shores each year at its height.

The programme saw the removal of much of this waste, including two huge spoil heaps from beaches at Easington and Horden, the recreation of valuable grassland habitats, a revamp of the promenade at Seaham and improved access to the coast by creating new foot and cycle paths.

Mr Wood said: "Houses and leisure developments now stand proudly on what was once contaminated land.

"Our coastline is now unrecognisable from 20 years ago, with some of the cleanest bathing waters in Europe.

"It has been an amazing turnaround."

During the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001, which began at a farm in Heddon on the Wall, Northumberland, agency staff made sure the millions of animal carcasses that had to be destroyed across the region were disposed of safely, without posing a threat to water supplies.

Had the disease been allowed to contaminate water, supplies could have been affected for decades to come.

The agency has helped efforts to improve air quality - for many years a serious issue in industrial parts of the region - and tackle firms over the emission of chemical pollutants.

It also worked with steel giant Corus when it spent £1m on upgrading fume collection systems at its plant in Lackenby, Teesside, and has continued to track emissions to ensure they are kept to a minimum.